USC alumnus Ben Proudfoot shares his Oscar-night memories

In 2024, Ben Proudfoot ’12 spotted Steven Spielberg in the audience on his way to the stage to accept the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The USC School of Cinematic Arts alumnus couldn’t resist a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to say hello to the legendary filmmaker who received an honorary doctorate from USC in 1994.

“He is the reason I became a filmmaker, so I shook his hand and said, ‘Thank you,’” recalls Proudfoot, who co-directed the award-winning short film The Last Repair Shop. “There are so many people for whom he is a role model.”

At 34 years old, Proudfoot appears well on his way to role model status himself. He already has the rare distinction of being nominated for three Oscars in four years in the Best Documentary Short Film category, with two wins. His first nomination was in 2021 for A Concerto Is a Conversation, with his first victory coming in 2022 for The Queen of Basketball. He describes his Oscar wins as “a total highlight of my life and career.”

When the 97th Academy Awards are handed out on Sunday, three other Trojans will be sitting in the audience, hoping to hear their names announced as an Oscar winner.

Alex Coco, a 2016 graduate of the School of Cinematic Arts, is a producer of Best Picture nominee Anora, which has already won the prestigious Producers Guild of America prize — a key Oscar barometer. Another USC alumnus from the film school, Walter Salles, directed the 2025 Best Picture and Best International Feature Film nominee I’m Still Here. Doug Hemphill, a former student of the School of Cinematic Arts and already a two-time winner for Dune: Part One and The Last of the Mohicans, is again up for Best Sound for his work on Dune: Part Two.

“Every awards season, new light shines on our incredible Trojans,” USC’s Vice Provost for the Arts Josh Kun says. “It’s yet another incredible reminder of what happens when our students move out into the world of entertainment. It’s always nice to see how the singular training our students receive with us ends up bearing such impressive professional fruit.”

Proudfoot, the founder and chief executive officer of Breakwater Studios, works with several former USC classmates at his filmmaking company, which specializes in short documentaries. He began some of his most enduring collaborative relationships while living on the eighth floor of Marks Tower, a USC first-year residence hall.

“No doubt I have hugely benefited from going to film school, which I could not have done without a scholarship from USC,” he says. “USC film school is like a beacon for young people — a lighthouse that draws young people who wish to make movies at the highest level and entertain the world. My time at USC shaped me to make movies that would appeal to many people.”

Oscar-night memories

Each of Proudfoot’s evenings as an Academy Award nominee has been memorable for different reasons. His first ceremony in 2021 was during the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. A scaled-down, socially distanced event was held at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles instead of the usual Dolby Theatre.

“You are extremely nervous and tense, and it’s an honor to be there,” he says of that first Oscars ceremony. “We were pretty wide-eyed, and I don’t remember feeling sad because we didn’t win.”

Just a year later, Proudfoot was nominated again — and won. Although eight categories — including Proudfoot’s — were cut from the live telecast in 2022 and presented before the show, Proudfoot remembers that his speech included his calling on then-President Joe Biden to bring home WNBA star Brittney Griner, who at the time was being detained in Russia.

Proudfoot was still backstage doing press interviews when Best Actor nominee (and eventual winner) Will Smith stormed onto the stage and slapped presenter Chris Rock across the face.

“I returned to my seat and the first thing my mom said was, ‘You’ll never believe what just happened,’” he says. “I doubted her and thought it was probably just a prank. I then saw him at the Vanity Fair party after the show, congratulated him, and got a photo with him. I still hadn’t seen what happened — I had no concept.”

A long Trojan Oscar tradition

High-profile Trojan winners at the Academy Awards in past years include John Wayne (1970 Best Actor winner for True Grit), Forest Whitaker (2007 Best Actor winner for The Last King of Scotland) and Robert Zemeckis (1995 Best Director winner for Forrest Gump). More recently, School of Cinematic Arts graduate Ke Huy Quan ’99 won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in the absurdist comedy-drama Everything Everywhere All at Once, which swept the Academy Awards in 2023 with seven wins, including Best Picture.

Other Trojans who have gone on to win Academy Awards include two alumni who won in 2013 for their work on the film Argo. USC School of Dramatic Arts graduate Grant Heslov ’86 shared the 2013 Best Picture Oscar with fellow producers Ben Affleck and George Clooney, while film-school alumnus Chris Terrio ’02 took home the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film.

School of Cinematic Arts graduate John Knoll ’84, has been nominated for six Oscars in the Best Visual Effects category and won in 2007 for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. At the same Academy Awards ceremony, fellow film-school alumnus Ari Sandel ’05 took home the Oscar in the category of Best Short Film Live for his 21-minute thesis film, West Bank Story.

Twelve years later, School of Cinematic Arts alumnus John Ottman ‘08 won the Film Editing Oscar for his work on Bohemian Rhapsody, a biopic about rock band Queen’s late frontman Freddie Mercury. Also in 2019, School of Dramatic Arts graduate Rayka Zehtabchi ’16 won the Best Documentary Short Subject Oscar for Period. End of Sentence., which she directed and co-produced.

“I’m not crying because I’m on my period or anything,” Zehtabchi famously said during her acceptance speech. “I can’t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar.”

The 97th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and streamed live on Hulu.

Ben Proudfoot, Grant Heslov, Forest Whittaker Photos By Michael Yada; Christ Terrio Photo By Heather Ikei, John Ottoman Photo By Matt Petit, Ke Huy Quan Photo By Blaine Ohigashi, Rayka Zehtabchi Photo By Mike Baker, Robert Zemeckis Photo By Long Photography